west Highland way detour advice

[johnwat]

Hey i'm walking the West Highland way with two of my best friends starting next monday. And i was looking at one of my maps, and it shows a walking path from Kinlochleven to Fort William, which doesnt follow the West Highland way, yet detours through the mountains in between those places. The path leads next to Am Bodach and Stob Ban. I was wondering, is it a very hard climb and is it do able in a day? We are not very expierenced hillwalkers, i have climbed Galdhopiggen in norway, but not much else. But it is something we alle would like to get into, and it seems to me that it would be nice to add some height to the west Highland way, atleast for what we would like to expierence.

So have you walked the route? Do you have any tips? Is it a difficult path to manouvre and to walk?

[johnwat]

I made two vieuwranger routes for it, but i cant post them because im new.

[jmarkb]

The path up Coire na h-Eirghe to the col between Am Bodach and Sgurr an Iubhair is OK: if I recall correctly it gets quite stony near the top. You can then either follow the old stalkers path that contours the south side of Sgurr an Iubhair or go over the top (worth the extra 50m of ascent for the views on a clear day). The descent west to the col below Stob Ban is quite rocky and loose: an alternative is to head NW from the top of Iubhair towards Stob Coire a' Mhail and turn left, just beyond the col, down a nice zig-zag stalkers path (not fully marked on the OS maps) to Lochan Coire nam Miseach. The path down from here to Glen Nevis is fairly good.

Overall, going this way is a bit shorter, but adds 700m of ascent and descent to the day, so will likely take you up to 2 hours longer.

[jmarkb]

Forgot to add that there may well still be some patches of snow around on the tops next week.

[johnwat]

Allright, we dont mind the snow, as long as we dont need crampons or, ice axes for it. Right now im thinking of either going over Sgurr a Maim, or over Mullach nan Coirean. Which would you choose if you had to? And we will defiantly take the extra 50 meters to the top!

[johnwat]

The path up Coire na h-Eirghe to the col between Am Bodach and Sgurr an Iubhair is OK: if I recall correctly it gets quite stony near the top. You can then either follow the old stalkers path that contours the south side of Sgurr an Iubhair or go over the top (worth the extra 50m of ascent for the views on a clear day). The descent west to the col below Stob Ban is quite rocky and loose: an alternative is to head NW from the top of Iubhair towards Stob Coire a' Mhail and turn left, just beyond the col, down a nice zig-zag stalkers path (not fully marked on the OS maps) to Lochan Coire nam Miseach. The path down from here to Glen Nevis is fairly good.

Overall, going this way is a bit shorter, but adds 700m of ascent and descent to the day, so will likely take you up to 2 hours longer.

Allright, we dont mind the snow, as long as we dont need crampons or, ice axes for it. Right now im thinking of either going over Sgurr a Maim, or over Mullach nan Coirean. Which would you choose if you had to? And we will defiantly take the extra 50 meters to the top!

[jmarkb]

The ridge to Sgurr a' Mhaim (Devil's Ridge) is narrow and quite exposed, with a bit of easy scrambling required: has the potential to freak out the inexperienced. The descent off Sgurr a' Mhaim is a pig: long, steep and initially very bouldery. I would go for Stob Ban and Mullach nan Coirean: a fine but not exposed ridge walk, and an easier descent.